president obama went to the headquarters of the american red cross here in washington. the president said he is confident the recovery effort is heading in the right direction and he urged people to make monetary donations to the red cross disaster relief fund. >> we certainly feel profoundly for all the families whose lives have been up ended and will be going through tough times the next several days and perhaps several weeks and months. the most important message i have for them is that america's with you. >> we won't be able to solve all our problems with our of the this morning. there are a lot of people that will still be looking for goods even though we've gathered these things as you know, but one of the things i've learned in life is you make the difference you can. >> reporter: the white house announced late this afternoon that president obama will travel to storm strickenew jersey wednesday to view the storm damage from the massive storm that struck the east coast and sank first responders. mitt romney meanwhile is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in florid